NEW YORK—Stocks closed higher on Wall Street Friday to give the S&P 500 its best week in two months as earnings reporting season gets underway and CEOs begin to show how well or poorly they’re navigating high inflation and a slowing economy.
The year has begun on Wall Street with optimism that cooling inflation trends could get the Federal Reserve to ease off soon on its sharp hikes to interest rates. Such increases can drive down inflation, but they do so by slowing the economy and risk causing a recession. They also hurt investment prices.
The S&P 500 rose 15.92 points, or 0.4 percent, to 3,999.09. It is up 4.2 percent so far this year following a dismal 2022. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 112.64 points, or 0.3 percent, to 34,302.61. The Nasdaq rose 78.05 points, or 0.7 percent, to 11,079.16….